Advancing Research in Healing
Exploring the variability and plasticity of tissue regeneration to make meaningful discoveries and improve life after injury.
About The Varholick Lab
Severe injuries and surgeries often damage peripheral nerves, disconnecting the brain from the body. While peripheral nerves can heal and regenerate, the quality of the healing is poor. This leads to pain, numbness, motor problems, organ dysfunction, etc.
Our goal is to REPAIR: REstore nerve Pathways through Adaptive Integration and Regeneration. Essentailly, we aim to improve our understanding of healing and recovery. We are working towards building systems with optimal healing after injury using molecular, cellular, and behavioral therapies. We will then unravel these systems to translate them to humans. What makes our research unique is that we place phenotypic variability and behavior at the forefront. That is, how can we understand variability to guide optimal healing, and how can we understand behavior to guide functional recovery?
Meet Our Team →
Our Research Areas
👋 How can we optimize peripheral nerve healing?
Although humans can regenerate their peripheral nerves after injury, the quality of regeneration is poor. This leads to pain, numbness, poor motor control, poor organ functioning, etc. Highly regenerative animals, however, have optimal nerve regeneration targetting the affected organ, with good insulation for nerve conduction, and plenty of nerves for good signals. Our goal is to translate this optimal nerve regeneration into humans and other mammals to improve behavioral recovery as if the injury or damage never occured.
Learn More →🧠Understanding the behaviors and neuroplasticity of highly regenerative animals
Highly regenerative animals don't just regrow the damaged tissue, they also use it as if it was never damaged. Behavior and neuroplasticity are central to this process of recovery, but little is known. We believe that the brains and behaviors of these animals hold a secret to full recovery that has yet to be discovered, and will fundamentally change our application of regenerative medicine in the clinic.
Learn More →🕔 When are the sensitive periods for tissue regeneration?
It's well established that critical or sensitive periods exist within development, allowing development to continue towards the mean or stall towards an outlier phenotype. We are studying whether this also occurs during regeneration, determining when the system is most plastic during regeneration and how this can be leveraged to optimize healing and recovery.
Learn More →Recent Publications
Spiny mice (Acomys) regenerate wounded whisker pad skin with whisker follicles, muscles, and targeted innervation.
Varholick, J.A., *Kondapaneni, R., Maden, M. (2025). npj Regenerative Medicine, 10:28
This is the first study to demonstrate that spiny mice can regenerate their whisker follicles and the associated structures after removal. Starting a new model system for studying cutaneous nerve regeneration.
PDF, DOI Link
Meet Our Team
Dr. Justin Varholick
Principal Investigator
Dr. Varholick (Dr. V) holds a Ph.D. in Biomedical Science/Applied Ethology from the University of Bern in Switzerland and an M.A. in Biopsychology from UNC Greensboro. He trained in regenerative biology during his postdoc under Prof. Malcolm Maden at the University of Florida, and was supported by an Early Postdoctoral grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation and an NIH Training Grant in Regenerative Medicine. His work has contributed to integrating animal behavior and phenotypic variability into basic biomedical research and establishing new model systems and frameworks to integrate animal behavior and phenotypic variablity into tissue regeneration research.
Your Name Here!
Graduate Researcher
Driven by a passion for understanding the body's ability to heal, I have a deep curiosity about how the brain responds to injury and healing. My current project focuses on understanding skin regeneration in neonatal mice, and whether their cutaneous nerves regain endoneurial sheathing and sensation after injury.
Your Name Here!
Undergraduate Researcher
As a young scientist, I'm captivated by the complexity of the nervous system and the incredible potential for regeneration. In The Varholick Lab, I'm learning to transform my classroom knowledge into hands-on discovery and contribute to human knowledge on regeneration.
Latest News & Updates
Fall 2025
The Varholick Lab officially opens at Kennesaw State University
Stop by SC 360 and say hello. Hopefully we'll start antibody staining soon, and have animals next semester.
Read More →August 2025
Whisker research presented at ISRB 2025
Prof. Malcolm Maden from the University of Florida presented our research on cutaneous nerve and whisker follicle regeneration at ISRB 2025.
Read More →June 2025
New Publication in npj Regenerative Medicine
Here, Dr. Varholick and his team at the University of Florida, showed that Spiny Mice can regenerate their whisker follicles after they are removed from the face alongside regeneration of the muscles and cutaneous nerves with sheathing and all.
Read More →Get in Touch
We're always open to collaborations, inquiries, and new talent. Reach out to us!
Email Us
Visit Us
Science Building, Room 360
Kennesaw State University
Dept. of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology
Kennesaw, Georgia